Help Afghan Women Deliver Healthy Babies Safely

We would like to share a report from one of AIL’s Outreach Vaccinators in Herat, Afghanistan.

I went to the Koshkak Village as part of the vaccine program and saw that a group of people had come together and were discussing the advantages getting vaccinated. I stayed there and listened to their ideas and questions about the vaccine program. One asked “What is the advantage of being vaccinated?” Another answered “Before the immunization program, our children suffered from polio, diphtheria and measles, but now the vaccine protects them from those dangerous diseases.” I praised them for their information about vaccines, in addition to what they already knew, I gave them health education and said that the BCG vaccine prevents your children from getting tuberculosis and this vaccine is injected into a baby’s arm just days after birth; we give them the Polio vaccine at that time too. I also told them about the TB clinic that AIL has, and described the symptoms of TB. I also explained to them that the DPT-Hep B vaccine protects their children from four dangerous diseases. Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, Tetanus and Hepatitis B and that this vaccine is injected during the 6th, 10th and 14th weeks of a baby’s life. I explained that when we give the DPT-Hep B to their children, we also give the Polio vaccine. I said that we give two rounds of the Measles vaccine in the 9th and 18th months of life. I also let them know that in addition to the immunization program for children, that we give women the Tetanus vaccination. We give the OPV vaccine to children up to five years old. I saw in the faces of people that they were very happy about this health education and then I asked them to go home and bring their children with their vaccine cards so that I can see who I must vaccinate. They followed my instructions and the results of the vaccine program that day were excellent for me.